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October 2012

The melancholic nature of fall,
with darkness spreading its long
cloak over dusk and dawn, presaging
the hibernating mode, is
relieved by many splendors. The
eye bright colors of changing
leaves, the golden rays of sun lazily
beaming from cloudless blue
skies, the stirring energy of autumn
rains and wind, the movement
of the vees of geese, and
road-daring squirrels carrying
nuts are all part of the landscape of fall that we learn from
our youngest years to anticipate and relish.

Yet, as with all seasons, there is much subtlety that asks us
to hone our observational skills. Autumnal recrudescence
is one concept that I have been considering. A search on
the Internet reveals this is a favorite phrase of many naturalists
and has inspired poetry and other flights of fancy.
I love the words and I love the effect. Little small bits of
song time emerge from thickets and brush in response to
day length that causes the brain to “mistake” this dark/light
equality as breeding season . The brain is stimulating glands
to release hormones in a period that mimics spring. It has
been a month or so since we have heard territorial birds
declaiming from prominent perches, so these murmurings
stir a glad response in me.

It also makes me wonder. More and more is being discovered
about how baby birds learn song, that it is identical,
in many bird species, to the way human children learn
to speak, with exposure to the language, then babbling,
leading to correct communication. Do we ever actually
hear the birds doing this though? When we hear Whitethroated
Sparrows doing very lopsided and weird singing
or see other fall sparrows at the Freese Road Gardens almost
whispering very garbled song, do we know if these are
young birds practicing or some broken sounded song due to
a lesser amount of hormones? Is recrudescence perhaps
a hormonal surge that stimulates young birds to practice?
How could we determine this? Why don’t we hear many
more songs that are inspired by the equal day and night
balance? There seem to just be scattered moments. Is it
mostly resident birds that engage in this, perhaps because
they are not feeling the restlessness that migration impetus
creates? Are the hormones that trigger migration similar or
the same to the ones that inspire fall singing? There was a
Common Yellowthroat in Sapsucker Woods this past week
that was chipping loudly, then sputtered out a truncated
and high energy version of song.

Each season inspires in me an intellectual restlessness responding
to all the changes occurring around me. Answers
come to us all through much research and scrutiny; and,
joyfully, there is always so much to just ponder.
Fall also brings changes to our club. Don’t forget the club
officer and director election will be held at the October meeting.
It would be great to have a big turnout of members for
this.